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Roadblock to God’s Promises?

Roadblock to God’s Promises?

God has wonderful promises.
Things He’s stated in the Word of God that are for His kids.

Many of us don’t experience many of those good things… and it seems… unfair. Why hasn’t it happened for me? Did I do something wrong? Did God choose not to bless me?

Hebrews 3:18-19 gives an incredible insight to the reality of unfulfilled promises. As the author speaks about how the children of Israel DIDN’T get into the promised land, the Holy Spirit clarifies for us; “And to whom did He swear that they would NOT enter His rest [speaking of the Promise Land], but those who did not obey? So, we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (NKJV, emphasis mine)

We remember the complaining of those feisty Israelites. We recall the rebellion and attitude, even the sins of certain members of the group… but “unbelief”? Most of us wouldn’t put THAT at the top of the list of their (many) issues. And if it was on that list, we certainly can’t sympathize, because, after all – WE believe God!

Well – before you go running ahead on your virtues, let’s see what thy didn’t believe…

It wasn’t that they didn’t think God existed, their unbelief stemmed from What He’d said to them. They didn’t believe what He’d instructed them… what He said simple wasn’t enough. Remember when the 10 spies went into the land (Numbers 13)? All came back saying that it was a GOOD land… “but,” ten of them saw problems that were unrealistic to overcome. They wanted good things from God, but they saw obstacles and those outweighed the reality of receiving… it wasn’t a lack of kindness or love, nor fire-power or strength… or any of the things we like to blame our own lack of obedience on – – – it was not believing God. That He’d do what He’d said, and they could trust and obey.

The Children of Israel could have stood at the edge of the promised land and declared, “If God wills it, we’ll go in.” But God wasn’t going to tele-port them in. They needed to believe what He had said, and act on His instructions. It’s a simple reality, but one of the hardest for our human minds to grasp. We don’t get to make the decision on how to follow God based on what makes sense to us, what we think it best, or how we’d like it to work (I’m sure Israel would have greatly preferred that there be NO giants in that land). The question is, and always will be, “but what did He say?” That, my friend, is where the opportunity for the fullness of God’s plan resides.

If you can believe, all things are possible to Him who believes. I think Jesus said that somewhere 😉